The saga of the California drought — possibly the most severe in 1,200 years — may not be enough on its own to cause the 114th Congress to fork over billions in federal dollars for new water projects that benefit the Golden State.

But the story has reverberated with Texas lawmakers who’ve seen more than seven years of drought at home, and even pricked up the ears of East Coast members whose constituencies have experienced water supply problems, flooding and extreme weather and are demanding Congress take action to protect the nation’s water supply.

That’s why Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-El Monte, reintroduced the Water in the 21st Century Act Tuesday, a bill she first submitted in July 2014.

She no longer believes she stands alone.

“Now they are more willing to talk about it. Now some of my colleagues in other states are interested because it is affecting many other states,” she said during an interview shortly before her bill was reintroduced with the support of 26 fellow Democratic members, including Rep. John Garamendi whose district stretches from Chico to Davis to Fairfield.

What hit home — particularly with Republican members — is the effect of inconsistent water supplies on the nation’s economy.

Here in California, water managers say about 400,000 acres of farmland in the state’s Central Valley, known as the nation’s salad bowl, went fallow. UC Davis estimates agriculture — a $44 billion annual state business — lost more than $2 billion in business and close to 20,000 jobs in 2014 alone.

The state’s fruit and nut crops account for 60 percent of the production of these commodities nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. If it isn’t farmers losing money, it is farmers paying more for water and passing on the added growing cost to consumers.

“Some states have a lot of water but they have invasive species. Everyone has some issues with water,” Napolitano said.

The bill sets up $1.95 billion in loans and grants over five years for water recycling, storm water capture and treatment, ground water management and water infrastructure projects. It also sets aside $6 million to study the feasibility of the controversial water supply method that takes in ocean water and turns it into tap water, known as desalination.

Napolitano said every way of adding to the state and country’s water supplies must be pursued.

“A decade ago the cost (of desalination) was prohibitively high. It has now become more feasible because the cost of water has gone up,” she said. “Do we invest for the future or do we wring our hands and wait?”

The bill would dole out $750 million for residents and business owners as incentives to install water-efficient dishwashers, clothes washers, faucets, toilets, showers and landscaping through a re-funding of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program.

The Department of Interior would be in charge of $700 million in competitive grants for system wide projects such as building more ground-water treatment plants and recycling plants and linking pipelines that turn waste water into drinking water. Usually, super-treated sewage water is injected into underground aquifers where nature filters the water further until it is eventually drawn up through a well. Also, separate pipes, called “purple pipes” can be laid to ball fields, cemeteries and golf courses to irrigate turf, instead of using potable water.

A $500 million loan program would be available to cities in California who are under state and federal orders to clean storm water of oils, toxics and pet feces so it can be reused instead of lost to the ocean, Napolitano said.

She said cities need help to build storm water treatment projects but can’t because of the “unfunded mandate.”

Steve Scauzillo covers environment and transportation for the Southern California News Group. He has won two journalist of the year awards from the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club and is a recipient of the Aldo Leopold Award for Distinguished Editorial Writing on environmental issues. Steve studied biology/chemistry when attending East Meadow High School and Nassau College in New York (he actually loved botany!) and then majored in social ecology at UCI until switching to journalism. He also earned a master's degree in media from Cal State Fullerton. He has been an adjunct professor since 2005. Steve likes to take the train, subway and bicycle – sometimes all three – to assignments and the newsroom. He is married to Karen E. Klein, a former journalist with Los Angeles Daily News, L.A. Times, Bloomberg and the San Fernando Valley Business Journal and now vice president of content management for a bank. They have two grown sons, Andy and Matthew. They live in Pasadena. Steve recently watched all of “Star Trek” the remastered original season one on Amazon, so he has an inner nerd.